The month of not eating out: Sneak Peak

March will be my month of not eating out. No Chinese food. No restaurants with friends (but you can come over and I'll cook for you). Basic exceptions to the rules are Chipotle is allowed on long run days (once a week not counting step backs) and coffee is generally allowed. (I can't believe how infrequently I have coffee now compared to other times in my life.)

I started keeping track of what I eat, which has been an interesting experience. (Do you realize how many calories are actually in candy? Bread? Spaghetti? Food from any restaurant?) I realized that I eat practically no vegetables if I'm not cooking them. It's not acceptable to rely on Chipotle is a vegetable source. I do eat fruit but still not as much as I should. It's also much easier to track how much I eat when I know what's in everything.

I've decided to go for a whole month of not eating out a couple of times before. The first time was just after my kitchen was finally done and that time it was mostly a financial decision plus I'd literally eaten out for a month and I was sick of it. The second time was last summer during marathon training and that was partly financial and partly a weight loss measure.

I was going to go to Chipotle today but I decided to skip Chipotle today and keep an extra Chipotle day in reserve for March. (How's that for motivation?) After running, I spent some time watching the hockey game and playing on the internets. I scoped out some recipes and went shopping.

First dish of the day is Tomato Lentil Soup: I don't have one recipe to refer you to here. I have several. I refuse to use canned tomatoes or tomato paste in my soups so this tomato soup recipe has good instructions for roasting the tomato and onion that become the base of the soup. This one has good instructions about adding the lentils and other seasoning.

In my house tomatoes get their own cutting board and their own knife so the juice and ooze doesn't contaminate anything else. (I hate tomatoes but I have been craving this soup like you wouldn't believe.)

Lots of onions in the soup too.

Yes, that is an entire head of garlic roasting along side the veggies. That actually got used in a couple different things.

An ingredient not listed in any of the recipes in sugar. I used brown sugar in my soup. It may sound odd, but I just needed a little something to cut down all the acid from those fresh (and no longer gross) tomatoes.


Next up was Lentil Pea and Potato Curry. This time I totally left the tomatoes out. (That was predictable.)
This was the last dish I made so I kept forgetting to take pictures. Here's the finished product. Anyone know where I can find some naan in the Twin Cities?



Apparently I was craving red foods today. I got beets to roast because I was watching a television show where someone was cooking them and they looked good. (No, seriously.) It helps that it's one of the few foods grown locally that I can buy right now.
This one was almost the size of my head. Are they supposed to be that big?

Roasting tip: let the tin foil be your friend.

I only have so many jelly roll trays (what some of you may call a cookie sheet). One was being used to roast the tomatoes so the beets had to marinate for a while.

But an huge amount of beets roasts down into practically nothing. It's so good. They taste like potato chips.

Now I just need to clean up. (I'm gonna lay on the couch a while longer before I go do that...)

Running and panic attacks

Usually I run to stop having panic attacks and calm down. Today not so much apparently.

• Morning:I woke up and ate a large breakfast. We'll call that mistake number one.
  
  Well, no, let's go back. My alarm went off at 6:15a and I was jarred awake thinking, "oh my god, I have to go to wor... wait, what is today? It's not work. What is today? I have to go run." Once I turned the alarm off I realized I was happy in bed (sorry ladies) and that I could just stay there. (See, when the St Paul runners come to my side of town I feel much more pressure to get out of bed, but when they're over on the other side of the river and they have each other even if I don't come, I feel much less pressure to drag my tired butt out of bed.)
  
  So I slept 'till 9:30 and it was awesome. And then I had a big breakfast which was a mistake.
  
  After the breakfast I sat around and played on the computer. I talked to Chris in Seattle (thanks Facebook) for a while. It must be great to live in a place where you can see grass and plants and stuff. Wow.



• Run!In the early afternoon I went for a run around Lake Nokomis. Now, part of the panic was my fault because I should have just picked the distance I wanted to go ahead of time and stuck to it. I did not. Part of the Nokomis run was to investigate the ice situation on the path for tomorrow's run (with the St Paul girls). The lunch I mentioned earlier was not happy about being tossed around on a run. The ice situation was much better on some parts of the lake. The puddle situation in those spots was absolutely out of control. The path was packed and between the puddles and the ice and the people I didn't get up to a nice pace, or even a regular pace which ultimately led to the panic attack.
  
  I thought then it would be better to run a lap around the back of the lake (on the other side of Cedar) which was way less crowded. Sadly the puddle situation was wicked over there, but very peaceful running.



• Post run fails and wins:When I came home I tried to take a shower. (And you're thinking "tried"; how'd you screw that up?) There's no hot water. I mean there's hot water but it's not actually hot. It's just warm enough to be not cold. This has been happening at my building a lot this winter. Mostly on the weekends. And no one knows why.
  
  After failing at the post-run warm up shower at home, I headed over to the gym where I sat in the hot tub for a while. Nice. Then I went to Chipotle and got a chicken burrito. With the guacamole. And I do not regret it.
  
  Now I'm sitting at home watching the olympics (who knew curling could be interesting to watch) and Office Space (which Beth really needs to watch) and relaxing.



• Up next:Later on the agenda is loading and running the dishwasher and going to Target. I've finally destroyed my Sony headphones. I can't remember how long they lasted. About forever I think. Anyone have a good earbud for running? The iPod earbuds fall out of my ears when I run with them. The sony headphones (earbud with the plastic hook for your ears) are the best but the cord is so looong. (It matters because it bounces around when I run.) I liked the Nike headphones with the two length cord but the plastic hooks that fit over my ears fell off making them totally useless. We'll see what my options are this time.

And a brief linkfest for you:

• Sarah Palin's greatest hits: It's usually not nice to laugh at people (I can see Russia from my house) but if you need some entertainment...


• Someone tell me What is Krill oil? Something I may want to investigate?


• A look back in time: What's this internet thing?

  FTA: The truth in no online database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works.



• My camera battery needs a charge. Look at this in the mean time


• Snail WIN. How's that for inspiration?

Popcorn at 10:30 = The Perfect Dinner

I planned to run this morning. I quickly forgave myself when that didn't happen.

For not having any home visits and very few phone calls, work was a complete zoo. Mostly in an "I like my job and I'm very busy" kind of way. I did get to have Chipotle for lunch. I think I'm trying to set a record for the number of days I can be restricting calories and eating Chipotle. This could be an awesome plan but it could be slightly unrealistic. I stayed at work a little longer than I planned to. See the zoo comment.

I went to the gym a little after 8:00p and (miracle or miracles) got a sweet parking spot. I was planning on doing a weight workout but all of these ellipticals were free so I decided to do my run tonight instead. And run I did. Watching the Olympics while running on the elliptical is like taking rocket fuel while working out. They had the skiers on and they were flying down the hill so I was hauling tail on the machine watching them. Although I slowed down when I saw the men's 10,000km race and the guy who got disqualified. That was sad. (I feel a little pull for the Netherlands' athletes since I ran my first marathon in their country.)

I'm planning on doing my long run for the week (six miles) tomorrow morning at Lake Nokomis but that might get moved inside due to the weather. The thing I remember about marathon training is there's only so long I can spend on an elliptical before I get so bored I want to peel my fingernails off just to see what'd happen. And February is too early in the year to be at that point. But being on an elliptical is so much easier on my knees that I feel I should do it every so often just to give my body a break.

It's getting light a little earlier and staying light a little later so marathon training is getting better. It's easier to run outdoors than it was last month at this time. And it's not quite as painful to go to the gym (see above about the awesome parking). I'm also thinking about how I can add a good hill workout to the regime. I feel like Montreal Ave in St Paul is my best chance for a good hill workout but I also feel like the first time or two up the hill may give me a heart attack. I'll have to think about that one some more.

Runners on Ice: Runners encased in ice

Here's the thing about the TV that my pooky bear gave me: it cuts off the corner of the screen and I can't see exactly how many seconds are left of the hockey game. Hurry up clock. Sometimes it cuts of the top or the bottom too.
GO USA!!!!
I'm not sure why the TV does that. Although she said that she had to take it back a few times to get the thing fixed so maybe that's why.

I had a great day. Here's how it went:

6:00am Ohmugosh whutimizzit? A moment later: why is my alarm making noise? And another second later: I have to get out of bed to run. (What was I thinking when I agreed to this?)

6:30am Find Beth and Robin at Lake Nokomis before sunrise. It was forecasted to be 12* for the low. So I dressed for running in 12* (wool socks and sock liners, tights and sweat pants, cold weather running shirt, jacket, gloves and hat) and it's a good thing I did. Because it was cooler than that. And super humid out. (Yes, humidity can by a problem at 12*.)

We could actually see a (well, in the water it'd be called a thermocline) an event in the fog over the lake, like where it stopped being so foggy about 20 feet above the lake. So the more we ran the more we sweat, which didn't evaporate becuase of the humidity and then it all turned to frost which made us cold, although it provided some awesome pictures.

After running I enjoyed a hot shower. Remember this summer when I thought ice baths were the best thing ever? Yeah, I don't remember it either.

10:00am I had an huge breakfast after all the running: a fried egg sandwich with two fried eggs and three pieces of bacon. YUM!

11:00am I did my taxes today. It took about an hour, maybe a little more. Sweet. Then I started cleaning and by cleaning I mean that I shredded a freaking ton of paper. And then I broke the part of the box that holds the hangers of the hanging files. Which tells you how many papers I had to shred.

2:30pm Was I shredding papers that long? I sat down for a few minutes. Then my teenager called me and I gave her a ride home from work. It was nice to see her.

4:00pm I went to the Y for a soak in the hot tub. Evidently the hot shower earlier wasn't enough.

5:00pm Dinner at Chipotle with my neighbor Steve. His burrito was packed with way more ingredients than mine which made me feel dainty and feminine (while eating a burrito the size of my head).

7:00pm I called Mom and Dad and talked for a while.

And once I got done with that phone call I turned on the hockey game and here we are. Plus now I'm talking to Amanda on the phone hearing all about her weekend and all the things that happened after I bought her Tex-mex on Friday.

My Running Playlist

As a runner, I'm always looking for more great music for the iPod, especially on those long loooong runs (which won't be happening for at least another month or two). Here's some of what I'm currently listening to (all of these links have sound):

• Burden in my hand by Soundgarden.


• He's a Pirate (theme from Pirates of the Caribbean)


• The Obvious Child by Paul Simon


• Waking Up in Vegas by Katy Perry. (This song make me think of Amanda.)


• Remember the Name by Fort Minor


• You Don't Have to Believe Me by Eric Hutchinson


• 4 Minutes by Madonna


• Human by The Killers. For some reason I always picture running around Lake of the Isles when I hear this song.


• Bad Romance by Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga songs are my new guilty pleasure.


• Fire Burning on the Dance Floor by Sean Kingston

Any good ones I missed?

Running in the slush and sun

Side note: I love watching the Olympics!

Related to running my life, I freaking love my laptop from work. I really like that I can work at home. Trying to run in the winter just didn't work last year. (You can tell all the times I wasn't running because it coincided with long absences from blog writing.) Now with the lap top I can go to work, leave in the middle of the day and go for a run, and then do some more work at the end of the day.

Today I left around 2:00 and went for a run at my usual spot. I was yak-trak free for the first time in what must be a month or two. There was some snow and some slush but enough concrete and enough footing that it actually felt good to be without the trax for a while. Although by the second lap of running in the slush my knee was beginning to protest. (It's ok little knee. We'll take a day off tomorrow and see how that goes.) It was a gorgeous day with tons of sunshine and about 30*. I had fun running in only one pair of pants. When it get's really cold I wear running tights under my sweat pants.

It was good to go for a run and not have a heart attack after all the crap I ate yesterday. Amanda and I went to The Blue Door and basically ate grease in a few different forms. When I woke up I felt like I had a freaking brick in my stomach. (That's from all the meat I ate yesterday.) Maybe I went faster today because I needed the iron. (I can *almost* explain why runners need more iron than every body else. I'd say I get it right about 80% of the time.)

After the running my teenager called me and had me take her over to Uptown. Can I use the "report a pothole" feature on the city of Minneapolis website to report all of 31st street? Nicollett Ave wasn't much better, especially around 35th. What the heck happened to that road. I actually had to check and make sure I didn't have a flat tire at one point.

To cap off my productivity I did laundry tonight. Usually I do laundry once every two weeks so I was way ahead of schedule.

dude, write on your blog....

Yeah, I've not written anything for a while. (Woops. Sorry about that.) But pairs figure skating is on tonight and that's not so interesting to me. (Show me the Luge and the speed skaters. Oooh, and the skiing.) So here I am.

Last week was my "rest week" for the marathon/half-marathon training. Is it called a rest week? Step back weeks? This is the schedule I use. I'm adapting the long runs because the Flying Pig comes way before I hit the 13 mile long runs in training. I'll make the long runs get longer faster but keep the weekly mileage the same. You may notice there are no 13 milers on that first training program. This is the second training program that I'll do this summer that has all the big long runs. (In the winter the only thing I remember is how much fun I had doing all those long runs.)

I started off this week right with a run at my favorite stomping grounds (dude, they plow it) with Beth. Thanks again for coming to Minneapolis and dragging my slow butt around the lake. We can cross the bridge anytime you want!

(Oooooh, speed skating, great.)

I then actually had to work today. (Funny story, so did Beth.) I was at work for a few hours, but it's snowing so I decided to drive home before it got bad. I may drag out the laptop and do some more work tonight. It was actually nice to be at the office for a while when it's totally quiet and there's no expectation to return emails or voice mails.

I stopped at Chipotle again. I think I'm trying to set a record for consecutive number of days I can eat Chipotle. A friend (who I guess will remain nameless unless they want to introduce themselves) showed me this calorie counting program for the iPhone (iPod Touch) to help people loose weight. I decided I'd give it a try. Mostly I just write down what I ate and how many calories are in it, and then how much exercise I did and how many calories it burned. There's some pre-programmed food in it (Chipotle is in there) and some pre-programmed exercises so there's less guessing.

Basically my little program told me if I ate 1700 calories per day instead of 2000 I'd loose a pound per week. And then I can add the calories I burn from exercise back into the calories I can eat for the day. Why'd I bring this up when talking about Chipotle? Turns out it's possible to eat Chipotle and still limit calories. Somehow it's not so hard to skip the last meal of the day when lunch was 900 calories.

I thought it would be interesting since I've never really tried to keep track of the food I eat. I also wanted to give it a go since I think it'd be easier to run faster if I was lighter. (Maybe I'll be able to keep up with Beth then.)

Other lessons learned:

• My boss keeps all these chocolates in her office that I love to come in and eat. 45 calories per little piece can add up.


• Sometimes it's worth the extra calories to eat the whole milk yogurt. It's almost always worth it.


• I'm amazed at how much more full I feel after meals when I'm paying attention to what I eat.


• Other than last week (when I felt like crap and didn't want to go grocery shopping) I ate way less crap when I had to think about what I was eating.


• I don't always stay under 1700 calories (or under 2,000 when friends take me out and provide alcohol) and I've decided that's totally ok. I can look at this as a data gathering expedition and not see myself as a failure or needing to give up if I don't do exactly what the software tells me.
  


• Speaking of, Beer has a lot of calories, more than my yogurt, or my eggs. But sometimes, it's yum.


• Lentil soup is a bowl full of yum and fits well with this eat fewer calories thing.


• It's much harder to count calories when I didn't prepare the food. The big chain restaurants are in this program, but the local restaurants (hello Chinese food) are not and food I eat at my friends' house is similarly missing. (Although you should all keep making me food.)


• It's much easier to feel full when I run in the morning. (No, seriously, my body just uses food better the rest of the day. I can't explain it.)

(China has never won a figure skating gold medal? I am shocked.)

A long overdue Photofest...

I have long been partial to the trackball because it requires so little wrist movement. (It's all I can do to avoid a joke about shiny balls. Oh. Woops.)


This must have been Superbowl Sunday. On of the best tastes on earth is minorly stale popcorn. I like to pop it in the morning and let it sit out all day. It looks soooo good I could almost eat the picture.


Another pair of earrings. I realize those would be uninteresting if you're a guy.


Taken after my "at home you-tube videos workout" these are my weights. Yes, they are yellow.


Say hello to my iPod. (Seriously, sometimes it's whatever is laying on the table next to the camera.)


I have one of the white macbooks that attract all manner of dirt and grime from hands and wrists so I have a protector on the thing. It's starting to peel but it's worked like a charm for the past couple of years.


Me after a run. Runs in a Minnesota winter absolutely don't count unless you come back with icicles in your hair.


Yum. 'Nuff said.



Another iPod. Yes, I do own several.


This hat was, um, accidentally mailed to an associate who already had one from jumping in a freaking lake on new year's day so it was gifted to me. Sweet. I'm actually wearing it right now. Maybe that means I should turn up my heat.




Best running food ever.

Sweet!

A brief interlude from the snow outside:

I'm buying my plane tickets to Austin to see my cousin get married this summer (congratulations Brian!). I was going to use the voucher from MLK day. I went to cash in the voucher. There was another $300 voucher sitting in my account from last year. I have no memory of that earlier voucher. But sweet! Now I just need to save up my vacation days to go some place fun.

I have a place or two in mind. Where do you think I should go?

A brief linkfest

• This is how I feel when I run. Although it's been snowing so long I'm not sure I'll ever run again. Booo.


• A Rhode Island therapy cat accurately predicts when residents are near death. It's creepy until you think about it and then it's kind of comforting and cool.


• My birthday wish list. Some of these are pretty spendy so you might need to buy these gifts in pairs. If we're prioritizing, powerskips first, then hover scooter. Skip the robots and anything with a gun.


• The clothing diet: no new clothes for a year. I read that and thought, "well shoot, I could do that but I need running clothes and shoes more often than that". Oh well.


• Timelapse of snowfall. It's cool. And what Minnesota has looked like and will look like for a while. Seriously, when will it be summer?


• Following the snow theme In the south attendance at the grocery store before a snow storm is mandatory.


• What's your city's nickname? City of Lakes, Flying Pig and Queen City are not on the list.


• And finally, some of my favorite commercials from the super bowl. The Fiddling Beaver. Mind = now in gutter. Anything with a killer whale is cool. Dave, Jay and Oprah. Win. Doritos: Minneapolis: this one wasn't that funny but was created and filmed by some guys in Minneapolis. And finally, the Denny's Chickens. Guess where I'll (not) be tomorrow.

Such a Southener

Ok, right off the bat, there was a type in my title that I'm glad I caught. (The first H got typed as a K at first. That wouldn't been embarrassing.)

This is the weather report for the next few days. I was watching and Sven just told me it's gonna snow through Tuesday, stop on Wednesday, and snow again Thursday and Friday.

So, good southerner (I grew up north of the Mason Dixon Line but well south of the "Waffle House - IHOP" line) that I am, I heard the word "Snow" on Friday at work and spent some time checking out the weather. Originally I hadn't planned on taking home my work lap top, just thinking about keeping weekends totally work free. After consulting the weather, I realized I might want to spend some time working from home on Monday and packed the lap top.

The thing about the cultural south is we stay inside until the snow has fallen and the (one or two) plows get out. We check the weather and plan ahead. Busiest time at the grocery store? Right before a big snow storm. There will be no milk, no eggs and no beer for you. The good news is all of your neighbors have been to the store too.

The thing about Minnesota is we act like we don't care about snow storms. We don't plan our grocery trips around them. We go grocery shopping during the storm. Or wait 'till after. We don't cancel school or close work. Ever. As somewhat of an outsider, my interpretation is that Minnesotan's like their bragging rights about dealing with snow and cold. Planning ahead for snow storms would give the storm too much power over us. So we ignore the weather and complain about the traffic.

(Side note: the "Bud Light House" commercial is pretty good. The Snickers commercial is clever but doesn't speak to me as much. Ok, the Doritos one is pretty good too.)

I still plan ahead for the snow storms and go to work after rush hour is over.

Maybe I should go back to watching the super bowl commercials.

***Update - I found this article right after I wrote this post. So I'm coming back to add it. This is what grocery stores look like in the cultural south when snow is predicted. Do I know my people?***

So I had this dream and now I'm registered for the marathon...

I realized last night as I was falling asleep that registration is now open for the Twin Cities Marathon. Apparently that thought influenced me because I had this dream... Someone I knew took me to the starting line of the marathon (in my dream it was the Twin Cities Marathon, but the course totally wasn't our marathon) and cheered for me. The course took us through this castle/labyrinth/something and I kept going through it the wrong way and getting bounced back to the beginning. Understand now that I'm running through the halls trying to keep up with the marathoners. And every time I got bounced back I had to wear some different costume, all of which were hot and involved a lot of fur. It was like ground hog day on an acid trip. And I was getting further and further behind everyone else. I also remember one other part of the course that looked kind of like Cathedral Hill and my friend was there too. I don't remember actually finishin the marathon in my dream but I'm sure I did or I woke up from thinking about running in all those costumes.

Today, after all that, I decided to actually register for the marathon. (Hey, now I'm economically invested.) I also registered for the Flying Pig Half Marathon, known by some as Hill Training. I was thinking about running the Minneapolis Half Marathon like last year but I think I've spent enough on race entries for one day. (Though, seriously, to all of you from Minnesota the Minneapolis Half or full Marathon is a great race and a great course.)

This has been a rough week for running and working out in general. Between the snow and my attitude about the gym in the winter, not much is getting done. I might try just going for a walk this weekend. Walking in the snow is fun right? It's not supposed to be that cold.

Going Crazy not Running

Just for the record: I want to run. I'm going mildly insane with all the ice we have up here. I was actually glad when it snowed today because it'll mean a snow pack to run on instead of, well, ice. (Hey, it's still winter. I'll do almost anything to avoid the gym.)

Speaking of doing almost anything, it really did snow today. I was mildly traumatized by the five or six accidents I saw on my way back from a home visit today so I decided not to venture out once I got home from work. Instead, I did four exercise videos. I started off with Eight Minute Buns because, believe it or not, that one's actually the hardest. Next I did Eight Minute Legs. It was hard for me to do it with the chair, much easier to stand up straight and hold my arms on either side of me. It must be all that gymnastics I did when I was a kid. Better balance without assistance. Then Eight Minute Abs which is almost as hard as the buns. And finally, Eight Minute Arms with 3lb weights (because it's what I have here). This was the easiest by far. I could keep up with the repetitions on every exercise. I think the guy who does the videos sounds positive and encouraging. Is that weird?

At work we finally got our new laptops and I got my first taste of Windows 7. I must say, it's pretty nice. I think I'll always be a mac girl, but Windows 7 has a much better user interface than XP. I tried Office 2007 too. I'm not loving the ribbons. But I did figure out how to turn them off entirely so that made me happy. Plus, dude, I got a laptop for my job. Awesome.

Other than that, I've done some playing on the web, although not much. Here's what I've come up with so far:

• For the Bolder Options runners and The St Paul Runners, it's time to sign up for the Ragnar Relay 2010. Remember, this year Bolder Options is the charity receiving the proceeds from the race which makes it even better.


• To Jenny and Aunt Elaine When I'm rich I'll buy you one of these. No one else will understand the penguin reference.


• Amanda, here's how to make your own pho. Sorry, I couldn't find one with seafood, but my co-op does reliably sell squid so at least I know where to buy that ingredient.
  Also for Amanda if that other aquarium ever gets too big, here's one you might like better.
  And finally, Yo, Amanda what are you doing for the super bowl? I can bring any one of these bacon-snacks. Remember the one I made last year?


• To Eric of all people, this made me think of you. I think it was the Weber Grill.


• For all the Minnesotans reading this, check out our state's average IQ.


• For everyone, do you know the difference between kitchen devices and midevil torture tools? I got 90%. This just made me laugh.


• For ME! Want. That's actually pretty inexpensive. And Really want!. Maybe that's the case I'll get for the new work laptop.


• For, well, just here Squirrel proof bird feeder.


• And finally, 65 open source software downloads that someone claims will do something incredible. They look good but I got distracted when I couldn't make the entire article appear on one page.

Linkfest

• The best part of January? (Well, February this year, but still...) Superbowl Ads. Here's some classics. Although it didn't have my personal favorite, The Cat Herders. How many feel like they herd cats every day?


• I'm keeping quite about the Apple GodPad, but I always like to know about new games for the iPhone/iPod Touch. It drives me bonkers when you call it the iTouch. I just feel dirty.


• Want to know the meaning of Dumb use of resources? I call it feeding my neighbors car corn when we could use regular gas (which uses about the same amount of energy as corn ethanol) and feed corn to, you know, people.


• In honor of the state of the union (which I'm still watching), which bloc votes with you?. St. Croix? Sohio?


• Staying with the political/world theme, learn the true meanings of flags. The USA flag is a little on the nose I think.


• Want proof that bit-torrent, piracy, and so on, aren't so bad? Now they're just giving the stuff away. Apparently even taking the DRM crap off works to improve profits.


• Mother natures is scary.


• Pie in a jar that actually made me think of Chris first, but also Kelly because she bakes and Amanda becuase I think of her canning all kinds of stuff. Cast Iron Skillet Pizza also reminds me of Amanda whose oven is too small to fit actual pizza.


• Why are the dinosaurs extinct?.


• And finally, I'm putting this here because I know some of you read my blog via facebook. If you do, consider yourself one of my 150. Thanks. I'm glad to know you.

Photo-mania

It's been a while since I've uploaded any pictures. Although I've still been taking them. I have a hard time focusing my attention on things like political speeches, as interesting and relevant as the State of the Union is to me. So I'm writing a blog post and editing photos while I listen. (Hey, if I miss anything, I'll check the internetz.)

Last Friday: I decided to pay tribute to Sudafed, one of my favorite substances ever created. Most of what's gone was used while I was flying back and forth from Cincinnati. There's nothing worse than being congested on an air plane. Ow.


Last Saturday: I must have been exercising because I once again decided to pay tribute to my poor, beat-up, well-loved iPod. Notice how the top is missing? It makes locking the keys interesting. I also spent a lot of time Saturday cheering and providing runner support for several friends at the Securian Frozen Half Marathon (good job to Tesha, Kate, Glen, Laura, John, Heather, and Robin for running the Half and to Beth for running the un-certified 5k). Beth and I were like the only people on Shephard Road cheering for the runners. Lots of people in Vikings gear that day.


Sunday: The Vikings lost. This is how my room looks when the Vikings loose. No. I'm just kidding. Sunday is my clean up day. I spent a lot of time cleaning, doing laundry, and generally putting stuff away. The rest of the week, I have little energy to clean. I'd have more energy if I shared this space with another human being. The fish don't mind the mess. Sometimes I hate how messy things get and I wont let people come over if I don't have time to clean. This is probably one of the most honest pictures I could put up.


Monday: I remember working on Monday and not doing exercise. On purpose. I went to the gym on Sunday and Saturday. Apparently my fish tank was all I could think of to photograph.


Tuesday: There was work. There was the gym. And there was the most awesome breakfast ever: Banana slices with peanut butter and chocolate chips. I am learning to embrace peanut butter as a protein source.


Today: This is a pair of earrings I love.

A new accomplishment

Ok, so I'm mildly problematically addicted to the Word Challenge game on Facebook.

But I did just get a new high score.

Linkfest: Long overdue

• The bread I tried to make. I failed. It still looks good.


• Freaking love it when the police chief tells Governor Pawlenty to leave health care alone.


• I'd really love this. It drives me bonkers that Minnesota has one of the best health care programs for publicly funded programs and we get much less money from the federal government than states that have totally lousy public programs.


• This may be why I have such a hard time concentrating on a football game.


• Why you should never make a bet about doing something on national television. Too funny.


• This is what Africa looks like to me.


• Want to see something entertaining? Turn on the elevation feature on the map. All those ups and downs represent a change in like 8 feet of elevation. The one really big spike is the bridge over Cedar Ave.


• How bacon is meant to be enjoyed? Just ewww.


• Planning on traveling? Find out how the airlines will be screwing you with extra baggage/food/convenience fees they've made up recently. I actually just had a fairly ok experience on Delta. Even though our plane had mechanical problems and I got back a day late. I got basically a free ticket out of it. I think I'll use it for Texas.

Photo-fest

My attempt at making bread. The verdict: Fail. I think the flour went bad in the freezer.



Satsuma mandarins: best food ever.



When I was home, I got a hair cut. It was sort of a spur of the moment decision.



Quilts at home. Mom has more handmade quilts than anyone I know. And I'm including my pooky bear in this, although she's definitely the best competition.



A painting in my parent's living room. It's the signature of my dad's art teacher. He was like an extra grandpa to me.



Sunrise on the airplane.



Sometimes, I don't know what to photograph. I use whatever is lying around and try to find an interesting angle.

As my eyes start to close...

It's been a busy couple of days.

Yesterday I worked. All day. Also, I attempted to bake bread. It did not go well. I had some shape issues. I also think that the flour went bad in the freezer. Can that happen? The bread tasted funny.

Today was a blue jean day at work meaning I hid in my office and did paperwork all day. I stay away from people when I'm not as dressed up as normal.

I came home and ran at my favorite running spot. ::Side note - YO! City of Minneapolis - it's time to plow the sidewalks again. This slush hurts my body when I'm running through it.:: I was less puke-ish after this run than I have been after the previous two this week.

A friend of mine had tickets to see The Wizard of Oz - Soundtrack provided by the Minnesota Symphony which was very cool. I realize I hadn't actually watched the movie since I was a little kid. There's a lot in there for a five year old to miss.

Now I'm getting ready for bed. My camera is already put away or I'd show you pictures of my bread failure and other things I've been doing recently.

The Cleaning Monster...

I should run in the evening more often. It makes me very productive. After the run today, the cleaning monster came out. Although, sadly, all the labels in my refrigerator do not face forward, or in any uniform direction. Neither do the labels in my broom closet. (Irmghard told me at Christmas that she just does this naturally when she puts things away. Funny.)

To give you an idea of my, ahem, standards, I finally folded the laundry that I washed last Friday after I was sick. Yes. Today is Wednesday.

Now all clean clothes are put away, semi-clean clothes are hanging on my door, and dirty clothes are where they belong. My bed's made but that's probably the least impressive thing on the list.

The kitchen is also clean which has been a long time coming. Dishes just seem to multiply. I also have a layer of crud that cannot be removed from the floor despite my best efforts. What should I do? It cruds up right below the stove, around the dishwasher and under the counters where I stand to chop and prepare food. Blergh!

Happily, the place has also been vacuumed. I even got out the little hose tool today and hosed under the front of the couch. It's clear I hadn't vacuumed in a while (or I'm really sloppy when I'm sick) because there was quite a bit of detritus there.

Tomorrow on my list is taking stuff to good will and taking plastic bags to the co-op for recycling.

Right now I'm rocking out to Sarah McLachlan. I used to love her music. It was the only thing Alicia and I could agree on coming home Columbus Ohio at 4:00am. Then, I don't know, I just got over it. But it's great to hear again. My current favorites are "Mary" "Good Enough" and "Ice" from Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, and "Angel" from Surfacing.

RUN! And then look at these pictures!

I repeat what I said Sunday about running outside in the cold and then feeling ishy in the tummy.

On Monday I celebrated left-over brussel sprouts from Christmas dinner with Amanda and my Pooky Bear. There was no exercise.


Tuesday, similarly, there was no exercise. Instead I went to work early, got home at 4pm and took a long nap. This is what time I woke up from that nap. I was awake for an hour or two before I threw in the towel and went to bed for the night.


Today, I slept in. And went to work late. And got coffee on the way (and by coffee I mean a $4 latte with tons of milk) since I don't have any other food to eat for breakfast.
In a surprise move, I went for a run after work. I've tried to describe YakTrax before. In Minnesota right now, they're a necessity and I love them. I also use them as a motivator to get outside while the snowpack is still reliable. My knees have let me know that two days of running outside on YakTrax is all that's allowed in a week. I'm not injured, they're just letting me know. Also, my Nike+ system is ridiculously inaccurate with these little contraptions strapped to my feet. Nike+ told me I'd run 7.07 miles at a 7:47 pace today. I actually ran 4.2 miles at a very much slower pace.

Weekend Photos Rounup and Linkfest

Saturday - I went to Target after not seeing people, which I think I've already mentioned was a mistake. They are selling swim suits at Target. There's a -4* wind chill. It's Minnesota. In January. I didn't do much else on Saturday. I thought about exercise but I decided against the idea. For those who are interested, I also used my sick time to re-watch several Star Trek related things. I watched some of my favorite episodes of The Next Generation, which is the cast and stories I grew up on, learned about Deep Space 9 which is interesting so far, and watched several of my favorite movies included "the one with the whales" (comic genius); this one, and the last one with the cast from TNG. I am not ashamed to love Star Trek.
This is the other thing I did on Saturday:


Sunday - I was much more productive after getting out of bed at 1030. (I know, you'd think I'd be tired of sleeping after doing almost nothing else for the last 3 days.) This morning I watched an episode of DS 9, then went for a run at my running spot, 3.1 miles today. The run was rough, I think because I didn't exercise most of the week and it was cold out. I tried to explain to Kelly and Amanda and Eric how much air I have to suck down when I go for a run in the winter. It's like all I suck in is cold and not actual oxygen so I have to double and triple my efforts. All I breath in fills my insides, not just my lungs. I can't explain it. All the other winter runners know of what I speak. After I'm done I don't really want food because I've sucked down too much air.
I was going to go to the gym but then I discovered the UnderArmour running pants Mom got me for Christmas. I decided they deserved to be worn. And they are great.
Here's some of my running gear. Big thanks to Mark for the gloves and to Amanda, Kelly and Eric for the Nike+ system.

After the run I went to Kowalski's which happily had Brussels Sprouts. I headed home and roasted said sprouts while I warmed up from running around the lake.

Then I took my dish and Christmas presents (which were really just cards for the magazine subscriptions that are the actual gift) over to my Pooky Bear's house. Amanda was there too and we did our usual Christmas-in-January. Kelly made shrimp scampi and Amanda made a Chocolate Mousse (Kelly said to tell Eric it was pudding so he'd eat it). All of them were YUM.

Sadly my stomach is trying to kill me right now, it was trying to kill me before other people cooked me food too. I'm trying to decide if it's goat cheese, eggs, the soda I had after I ran (not my brightest move), the fruit juice (I haven't actually had much at all today) or something else. It's the opposite of fun but I'm sure it'll work itself out by tomorrow.

While I wasn't watching Star Trek, I did have time to play on the internet.

• They had something like this at the Heineken Brewery. Every time we put a beer glass on the table it would make a "coaster" with this technology.


• Digg called this picture "If Jesus Had a Cat" which seems pretty accurate (and hopefully not offensive)


• At one time, there were a ton of stories about people registering their pets at one or other of the online diploma mills just to prove a point but this is just ridiculous. Picturing a fairly uptight Jury Commissioner office.


• The Census is Coming and it's a crime to not return it. (Seriously.) Bonus points to the federal government for finally counting same sex couples.


• Now I don't have to wait for the Taste of Minnesota for funnel cake. Sorry. I think this is disgusting. (Although I have no such compunctions about funnel cake from the Taste of Minnesota or the State Fair.)


• Hey, speaking of Star Trek...


• If it wasn't around 100 years ago, it's probably not food. Also gross. And why in the world would you want to make fruit taste like anything else?


• I just thought this was an interesting article all about the options in web browsing. (Hey - if you're reading this you're on the internet so it does apply.)


• One way to break down 2009. Most of them do look entertaining. Legos. I'm just saying...


• Who actually got the stimulus money? Nice state by state breakdown. (I think this one is actually fairly apolitical too.)


• And finally, I've always found this to be true.

Recovery - an update

• My love for William H. Macy knows no bounds. I am not ashamed. When I got back from Target Air Force One was on. (William H Macy was in that?) Just reminded me how much I love him.


• Target on Saturday afternoon is never a good idea.


• After two days of not seeing anyone, Target is not the worst community reintegration idea possible. I lost track of how many panic attacks I had. I actually haven't had a panic attack in a store in a long time (largely owing to never going to Blockbuster). Target was just nuts.


• I lack the attention span to watch a football game from start to finish. Perhaps I am too emotionally invested. WHO DEY!


• Cleaning up after being sick totally blows, but it feels good when it's done. (Not that kind of cleaning up.) I just haven't emptied the dishwasher or cleaned a dish or put my clean clothes away. The good news is I do have clean clothes.
  


• Watching football is better while writing this blog entry. Maybe I've found a better way to split my attention. (Oh, shoot, one of the good guys just got hurt. That's like all the wide receivers we have.)


• I miss people. I forget how to be around them when I'm, you know, not.


• Hey, the Olympics are coming.


• A ton of you are running The Securian Frozen Half for which I think you're crazy *ahem* I can't wait to come out and cheer! I have no idea how you managed to train between recovering from a fall marathon and crappy winter weather. I'm impressed by your discipline and hoping it rubs off.
  


• I'm actually thinking about a visit to my favorite running spot tomorrow for a little warm up run. It'd be nice to get my body moving again. Let it remember how good it feels to move. It's YAK TRAX weather too.


• This is what I imagine Amanda's job is like, if you can recognize that is funny as he!! and not sexual harassment.

Slowly, slowly starting to feel better

Wednesday was a normal. I had a bacon and egg sandwich for breakfast. I had a bunch of meetings at work. After work I made lentil soup (which I still haven't sampled yet) and called it a night.


By Thursday morning, I thought I was going to die. (Thanks sinuses!) I took the day off work and spent 95% of it on the couch. I tried some medicine, some hot pack on my face and some good old fashioned sleep. It's really amazing that I had sinus pain (and I mean pain) the entire day and didn't wind up with a migraine. One of my fishes died on Thursday.
Really the most appropriate picture for the day is the dead fish lying in the toilet but even I have limits. This is one of the still-living fishes. I have no idea what his name is, although Steve or Amanda could probably tell you. (They wouldn't tell you the same thing though.)

Speaking of migraines, I woke up Friday morning with a big one. I slept most of today too. I think the headache is finally starting to let up. I have to grab my head when I sneeze (thanks again sinuses) but other than that I'm good right now. So good that I went out to clean the snow off my car in case I ever leave my house again. I thought it would be really snow-ice covered but actually it just took a minute or two to brush off. After that, I had to pick between Target and Laundry because I need both clean clothes and food. Ultimately I decided clean clothing was more important. I still have some provisions here, I'll last for one more day and it'll be warmer then.
On the way back inside I picked up the mail, including a nice packet from the Board of Social Work.
I'd really like to show you a picture of my new social worker license I received in the mail today. Alas, it has my full name and my license number on the certificate so I think I'll keep that image private. But I can now write LISW after my name, no more LGSW for me. For everyone worried about my health, I've already filled this thing up twice today, I'm trying to keep as hydrated as possible.

A Photo per day?

I tried doing Project 365 a while ago and it came to an abrupt halt when a water bottle spilled in the bag where I was carrying my camera and I decided it was best not to carry the thing around with me anymore. But it was fun to look back at those posts when I was taking pictures every day. I really wonder what the heck happened that day but it's nice to see myself smiling like that.

I decided I'd give it a go again. For the most part I've taken macro photos of things in my house which can be interesting. If nothing else it's photos for everyone to look at while they're here.

A Christmas present - that's Jenny and I as penguins. Go here to see Jenny knocking me down and me getting her right back.

That's an iPod I drop at least once a day *ahem* a well-loved iPod. I use it every time I work out. Remember I've been running for a long time. That's a lot of love.

This is how much money social workers earn.

Close-up of a painting from Dad.

Long Weekend Roundup and a Sunday Linkfest

Yesterday I think the temperature did not get above zero (that's 0* Fahrenheit for my international friends). I did not leave my building. I left my condo only long enough to check the mail in the hallway. Brrrr. I mostly laid around and read. I did a small bit of cleaning but not enough to be classified as productive.

Today has been much more productive. I woke up and finished organizing my iTunes Library. (That's like a monthly task, especially the album artwork) and I had a mild health scare (thanks to Google for helping me realize it was nothing and I'm oblivious).

Once I figured out I wasn't going to die I packed up and went to the gym. The gym in January is really quite an accomplishment for me. I can't stand the gym in January because of all the new members who fill it up. I particularly love February, March and April when the new members stop coming. I had a fairly positive attitude at the gym today which helped immensely. I went during the Vikings Game (there's a wall of flat screen tv's there, it's not like I missed anything) plus it was too cold for so many people to come out. I actually managed 5 miles on the elliptical. My legs felt like rubber afterward but the recovery was short. But dude, it's January and I was able to reserve the elliptical.

I went to the pet store to pick up filters for my fishes who badly needed them. (Sorry guys.) Then I stopped at Chipotle and got enough to feed a small horse a steak burrito. I think I may need to establish a minimum running distance before Chipotle is allowed. I'm not sure 5 miles is enough but whatever.

Now I'm sitting here watching football Go Vikings! For today only: Go Cowboys too!. I can't believe I have to work 5 days in a row starting tomorrow. How's that go again?

While I'm trying to figure that out, here's some things for you to ponder:

• What do parents in North Pole, Alaska tell their kids when they ask where Santa Claus lives? There's no link with this one. I'm just curious.


• Are trains equipped with snow plow blades?


• Does this mean we need to give a salary and benefits to the dolphins at Sea World?. I go to be in the water with a pink dolphin while I was on Semester at Sea. Very cool.


• Ingenious or ridiculous? Only a true nerd (brilliant with no common sense) would ever think of "running past the screen" to try out the graphic.


• Aint that the truth?


• It's 2010. Where's my rocket pack? I'm gonna need it so I can go live in a cave on the moon and be the social worker for all the colonists.


• What's your favorite iPhone app? I'm only linking to this because of the last two. I think the plant a tree idea is cool.


• I feel a sharp pain every time someone says "it's the end of the decade". No, THAT'S NEXT YEAR!!! But here's what we did for the past 10 years that were spread over two different decades and two different millennia.


• Finally, Ice Diving: The Follow Up. First what's the wrong way to get into a lake? You just walk in? Seriously? And how warm is Lake Michigan? It's pretty big and I can already hear Amanda telling me how water holds more heat than air so it'll take longer to cool off. If it wasn't 33* I don't want to hear about it.
  Here's how to do it the right way. And the right way again. I giggle every time I hear the little girl on the video say "it was the worst experience of my life". You know she'll be back next year.

2009: Liz's year in review

For the past couple of years, I've written a year in review post, always after we are completely done with the former year. (Year-in-review posts at the beginning of like, December, make me crazy. Dude, we're not done yet.) See how 2007 and 2008 treated me.

January started off pretty much like this January, with Amanda and I jumping in a lake for no particular reason. 2009 was a much warmer jump than 2010. It was in the 20's that day.

February (that's a weird month to spell) was a mix of continuing to reel from the bed bug infestation and an awesome time in Florida spent drinking with the aunties hanging out with my family and running a lot. I needed Florida in February because we had record setting cold in Minnesota in January of that year.

March saw the beginning of fund raising for Bolder Options and a recognition that 2009 was, indeed, going to be the year I ran a marathon. Incidentally, it's not too late to give. Bolder Options is a great mentoring program in the Twin Cities. You can show your support by donating here. Big Thank You! to everyone who supported Bolder in 2009.

April was the month I became a pet owner. How long do guppies live? (Ha, I just thought, "until they jump into Lake Minnetonka through a hole in the ice and become minnows". It's obvious what I was doing today.) One of the original guppies is still alive. One died and I've added two more since then. None of them actually have names from me but both Steve and Amanda have given them names they try to teach me.

May Jim Borgman made an allusion to my high school English class that everyone in AP English at Walnut Hills can recognize. The real accomplishment of May was running a half marathon.

June is the month I get a year better every year. This June Sarah came for a visit. I think she'll be back.

July and all summer really, was heavy duty marathon training. It was in July that I ran my first fifteen miler while I was at home in Cincinnati. I still remember thinking I was never going to get off that path. Three laps is really a long time.

August was Ragnar Relay time. I was so sick. I just remember not being able to keep any food in my body and drinking water and sports drink non-stop. And I remember Beth and Robin and other other Beth and small children waiting at the top of Hidden Falls Drive for me and cheering. In 2010 I'd like to run Ragnar and be healthy at the same time.

September was the month I did my 20 miler in preparation for the marathon, but the real event was the Bolder Dash which Dad actually came to town to watch.

October was marathon month. First, the running mates ran the Twin Cities marathon and Jenna, Beth and I biked all over the cities to cheer for them. Then the running mates helped me train for my marathon by telling me about some, um, interesting plumbing issues anyone can have. Then I flew to Amsterdam and ran the Amsterdam Marathon. And stayed sober long enough to tell the tale.

November gave me the worst nosebleed I've ever had, and the most expensive. I just got another bill in the mail yesterday. (This is why we need healthcare reform.) It's also the month of Thanksgiving: my favorite holiday.

December brought me back onto the race track in a fun but completely unspectacular way. Christmas was one of the best visits I've had with my parents. I got them very little actual stuff and more gift certificates that wont accumulate in the house (I hope). I got Mom a gift certificate to Kiva and rugs from Ikea, Dad a magazine subscription and The Vegetable Bible for cooking. I got them both a gift certificate to The Green Dog Cafe because they like to go out to eat and I like that it's local food. (I can still hear my cousin saying "We only drink the milk if we know the cow".) And then I began thinking about how to ring in the new year.

Ice Diving - I want to go again!

I can't believe I have to wait all year to do that again. I am now a Walleye.

I promised Jenna that no pictures of the Ice Diving incident would wind up on Facebook so I won't be including them in this post (because my blog automatically posts to Facebook).

Amanda and Jenna and I hauled ourselves all the way out to Excelsior (I know, it's just south of Canada and right next to the Moon) where a rectangular hole was cut into the ice on Lake Minnetonka. Beth met us there and watched the Ice Divers for a time before picking her daughter up in Plymouth. (The city limits of Plymouth actually share a border with Canada.)

When we got to the event center Jenna began to understand the enormity of this undertaking. It was packed. We hung around for a little while and talked together with Beth. Then we got in line and headed downstairs into the queue of divers. They had a warming tent this year. (I think they learned from the ridiculous experience of having 900 people packed in one room last year.) We actually were so late in the queue that we wound up not having to use the overflow space in the warming tent, we just waited inside and then went straight to the dock. Amanda and I jumped together and Jenna wound up jumping with a girl who was alone and needed a partner. Then we regrouped inside and compared notes about when specifically in the jump our brains had turned off *ahem* compared experiences.

I think the funniest part of the day was the look on Jenna's face when I said, "you want your shoes to be on tight enough they don't come off when you're swimming, but loose enough that you can get them off if your shoelaces freeze". I didn't tell her about my contacts freezing last year until after the dive.


What was different from the first year:

• Amanda was not physically up to par - oh wait, that's the same as last year. Last year Amanda was starting to get Influenza the day we jumped. This year, she had a residual foot injury. I was actually kind of surprised she jumped. We decided I'm a very bad friend for wanting her to jump so badly.
  


• Another diver, plus a spectator. With Amanda's foot injury I thought I was going to be diving alone so I recruited a running partner to jump with me. At the last minute Amanda couldn't stand being left out so we were all three going to jump together. I thought a second running partner and her son were going to jump as well. That running partner's husband "vetoed" the idea, but really just gave her a nice excuse to stay warm and dry. (We'll get her next year when she reads about all the fun we had.)


• No contact lenses. Last year I had a little issue with my contact lenses freezing as I was getting out of the water. No, seriously. I took them out last night and wore glasses to the lake. (Another reason there will be no pictures.) My eyes did not freeze this year.


• Robe, not towel. I learned from last year that a big fluffy robe is the most desirable attire for being wet in sub-freezing temperatures. A towel is simply inadequate.


• Swim cap, which Amanda called cheating. When I was thinking about this and going through all the steps in my mind the part I was dreading the most was walking back to the car with wet hair. (I have a lot of hair on my head and it takes forever to dry.) So I wore a swim cap. Amanda called it cheating. Her hair was dry by the time we ate and left.


• I swear the water was deeper than last year. Last year I remember being able to see the bottom before we jumped in and I remember being able to push off the bottom. I don't think I pushed off the bottom this year to get under the rope but it's hard to say. Landing in the water is not a part of the day I remember very well.


• Similarly, I swear the hole in the ice was skinnier, probably because the ice was so thick, too much work to cut it any wider. The whole looked skinnier in width, definitely not a shorter length to swim.


• I swam all the way across this year, no firefighter dragging me. That was actually my goal for the dive: get across on my own power. I needed help getting up and off the ladder onto the dock, but I did get all the way through the water on my own. (So glad I spent all those years on the swim team.) Amanda, in an hilarious move, actually told the firefighter to get ready for her before we even jumped in the water.


• I waited outside, wet, to see Jenna jump in with the partner she met in line, Torie. They were about ten pairs behind me so I had time to put on my robe. My feet kind of hurt (from being wet and cold) but what really hurt while I waited was my hands. They were so cold. I had each one wrapped in it's own blanket. I kept thinking, "I'm gonna loose all my fingers and Gordon's gonna be right about this being a bad idea." Actually my fingers stopped hurting long before my feet thawed and stopped hurting. I'm afraid walking around in shoes with numb toes is more likely to make me loose a toenail than marathon training.


• Much better crowd control this year, made for a much more pleasant line waiting experience. Last year Amanda and I almost got crushed and we waited in line for at least 90 minutes. And didn't eat breakfast. This year we waited for about ten or twenty minutes in line (inside), jumped, and ate. I ate Jenna's bacon. The potatoes and the coffee were the best.


• It was much colder than last year, leading Amanda to suggest we have a minimum jumping temperature. I think 3* may be the magic number. ("Three's my lucky number.)